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This was actually shot last season. He was very tasty and we are going to see if we can find some of his relatives next week. Anyway, to the story which actually begins 2 yrs ago:

She had shot at and missed 2 deer the year before. I was very surprised since she is a very good shot. She shoots steel challenge with an M&P 15/22 so the platform is very familiar to her. Sandbagged in she can put 10rds in an inch at 100yds with that rifle. The first shot I had just attributed to a little "Buck Fever" and just re-assured her that it was ok. She would get the next one. After the second missed deer I asked her "Ok, where were you aiming at that deer?" She told me "I was aiming behind his ear like you do. But his head kept moving." I told her "Sweetie, I don't follow the deer's head as it goes up and down. I just hold where it will be when the deer looks up. When it does, I make a quick adjustment and if all is good, I shoot. If not, I wait for the next time it looks up."

The next season, we had talked again about where the heart is and where to aim if the deer is facing different directions. We were hunting a friend's high fenced property and were cull hunting. We were sitting in an elevated blind watching deer come and go. We had seen several smaller 1-2 yr old bucks and several doe. This big boy walked out while I was looking out another direction. My daughter tapped me and whispered "Daddy, that buck is limping." So we watched him for a while walking around eating. He did have a bit of a funny walk but I couldn't see any actual injury so I told her we would probably let that one go. Then the feeder went off about 15-20 minute later as we continued to watch him mill around. As he ran to the feeder it was obvious he was dropping his right shoulder with every step. Da-Dunk, Da-Dunk, Da-Dunk! I whispered "Ok, get your gun up. You are going to kill that one." I reminded her that the rifle was sighted 2" high at 100yds and the feeder was right about that range. She held till he was clear of the other deer, feeder and was standing almost directly broadside. One shot. 2" from the bottom, just behind the shoulder. He jumped and ran about 20 yds before doing the death roll. Blew the heart in half. We never could find what caused him to limp but we left the cape for a shoulder mount.

When you see an image like that of a heart that is literally half gone from a rifle round and then hear that the owner of that half a heart was able to run 20 yards you begin to understand why counting on a one-shot stop from a hand gun is probably a poor bet.

But Assault Weapons Arenít For Hunting

This was actually shot last season. He was very tasty and we are going to see if we can find some of his relatives next week. Anyway, to the story which actually begins 2 yrs ago:

She had shot at and missed 2 deer the year before. I was very surprised since she is a very good shot. She shoots steel challenge with an M&P 15/22 so the platform is very familiar to her. Sandbagged in she can put 10rds in an inch at 100yds with that rifle. The first shot I had just attributed to a little "Buck Fever" and just re-assured her that it was ok. She would get the next one. After the second missed deer I asked her "Ok, where were you aiming at that deer?" She told me "I was aiming behind his ear like you do. But his head kept moving." I told her "Sweetie, I don't follow the deer's head as it goes up and down. I just hold where it will be when the deer looks up. When it does, I make a quick adjustment and if all is good, I shoot. If not, I wait for the next time it looks up."

The next season, we had talked again about where the heart is and where to aim if the deer is facing different directions. We were hunting a friend's high fenced property and were cull hunting. We were sitting in an elevated blind watching deer come and go. We had seen several smaller 1-2 yr old bucks and several doe. This big boy walked out while I was looking out another direction. My daughter tapped me and whispered "Daddy, that buck is limping." So we watched him for a while walking around eating. He did have a bit of a funny walk but I couldn't see any actual injury so I told her we would probably let that one go. Then the feeder went off about 15-20 minute later as we continued to watch him mill around. As he ran to the feeder it was obvious he was dropping his right shoulder with every step. Da-Dunk, Da-Dunk, Da-Dunk! I whispered "Ok, get your gun up. You are going to kill that one." I reminded her that the rifle was sighted 2" high at 100yds and the feeder was right about that range. She held till he was clear of the other deer, feeder and was standing almost directly broadside. One shot. 2" from the bottom, just behind the shoulder. He jumped and ran about 20 yds before doing the death roll. Blew the heart in half. We never could find what caused him to limp but we left the cape for a shoulder mount.

IMG_6016.jpg
Second deer she has ever killed and it is another 10 pointer, also shot a single time straight through the heart. The owner of the ranch asked her if she would come back this summer and teach a bunch of his other friends how to do this. Says he is getting tired of tracking and cleaning gut shot deer.

Story is not terribly exciting. We hardly saw any deer that weekend compared to years past. A few doe walked in about 15 min after the feeder went off at 5pm. This 10 point came in 15 minutes later. The owner had given me pretty good instructions about which deer he wanted taken and which he did not. The shorter brow tines and main points on this guy set him apart from the other trophies that were off our list. It didn't take but a few minutes to confirm this was a shooter. Once I gave her the ok the deer was already broadside to us. He must have jumped 6 feet straight up at the shot. Ran behind some trees and dropped. I couldn't see where he went so at 5:35 we climbed out of the blind to track him. We didn't need to walk but 50 yds from where he was shot. Like last year, one Hornady 55gr moly-coated ballistic tip was all it took. Heart blown in half. Very little extra damage to the meat.

My second daughter was also in the blind with us. It was her first deer hunting trip and I let the girls decide who was going to take the first shot. She readily gave that honor to her older sister. She won't make that mistake again. It was the only shot we took that whole weekend.

This was actually shot last season. He was very tasty and we are going to see if we can find some of his relatives next week. Anyway, to the story which actually begins 2 yrs ago:

She had shot at and missed 2 deer the year before. I was very surprised since she is a very good shot. She shoots steel challenge with an M&P 15/22 so the platform is very familiar to her. Sandbagged in she can put 10rds in an inch at 100yds with that rifle. The first shot I had just attributed to a little "Buck Fever" and just re-assured her that it was ok. She would get the next one. After the second missed deer I asked her "Ok, where were you aiming at that deer?" She told me "I was aiming behind his ear like you do. But his head kept moving." I told her "Sweetie, I don't follow the deer's head as it goes up and down. I just hold where it will be when the deer looks up. When it does, I make a quick adjustment and if all is good, I shoot. If not, I wait for the next time it looks up."

The next season, we had talked again about where the heart is and where to aim if the deer is facing different directions. We were hunting a friend's high fenced property and were cull hunting. We were sitting in an elevated blind watching deer come and go. We had seen several smaller 1-2 yr old bucks and several doe. This big boy walked out while I was looking out another direction. My daughter tapped me and whispered "Daddy, that buck is limping." So we watched him for a while walking around eating. He did have a bit of a funny walk but I couldn't see any actual injury so I told her we would probably let that one go. Then the feeder went off about 15-20 minute later as we continued to watch him mill around. As he ran to the feeder it was obvious he was dropping his right shoulder with every step. Da-Dunk, Da-Dunk, Da-Dunk! I whispered "Ok, get your gun up. You are going to kill that one." I reminded her that the rifle was sighted 2" high at 100yds and the feeder was right about that range. She held till he was clear of the other deer, feeder and was standing almost directly broadside. One shot. 2" from the bottom, just behind the shoulder. He jumped and ran about 20 yds before doing the death roll. Blew the heart in half. We never could find what caused him to limp but we left the cape for a shoulder mount.